I posted that thing the other day about Joey Votto saying he didn’t like the Cubs (and updated later when I realized that I was taking the comments too seriously). More along those lines today in a post from C. Trent Rosecrans, in which Votto explains that yes, he was joking around a bit when he said that after the All-Star Game, but no, he’s not totally prepared to be all friendly with inter-divisional rivals either.
The post has a video in which Votto tells a young Cubs fan “I don’t sign for Cubs fans.” Votto expands:
“I don’t,” Votto said, with a laugh. “I try not to. They’re in our same division and we play good baseball against them. I think it’s kind of fun to play the heel. Not everything has to be friendly, we take it seriously every time we go there. It’s not just a game to us, it’s our job.”
Votto traces his Cub-dislike to 2007, when he was called up in September and watched the Cubs celebrate a division title at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
“I still remember that now, I remember them looking at the scoreboard and Cubs fans cheering and everyone in the stands wearing blue,” Votto said. “I still remember that and it meant a lot to me. I guess I should probably let it go, but I’m not an easy forgiver.”
Which I kind of like, because as I’ve said many times, heel-turns are fun. There should more of those in life to break up all of the moral ambiguity. Having a villain is rather cleansing in a weird sort of way, ya know?
But really, if you’re not going to totally own it like Ric Flair or someone, you’re just giving off mixed signals.
(thanks to lar at Wezen-Ball for the heads up)
